BALANGA CITY — Balanga City and the towns of Dinalupihan and Hermosa in Bataan were recently recognized for implementing programs and projects contributing to the rehabilitation of Manila Bay.
Under the 2019 Regional Manila BAYani Awardees, Balanga was hailed as the top performer in Central Luzon for the city category, while Dinalupihan and Hermosa placed second and third, respectively, for the municipal category.
Manila BAYani Awards and Incentives aims to recognize local government units (LGUs) that have shown exemplary performance on the implementation of their mandates and responsibilities under environmental laws and policies that support the rehabilitation of Manila Bay.
“Launched in 2014, this award covers LGUs in the Manila Bay area from the Regions 3, 4A and NCR as part of our efforts to intensify the implementation of the Supreme Court Mandamus Order for the rehabilitation and preservation of Manila Bay,” Department of the Interior and Local Government Provincial Director Myra Soriano-Moral stressed.
She also revealed that Balanga bagged the award for four consecutive years , even being recognized for the Top Performer Award in the national level from last year.
Winners were determined based on the following criteria: existence of approved 10-Year Solid Waste Management Plan; practice of segregation of wastes at source; practice of segregated collection of wastes; presence of Materials Recovery Facility in the city/municipality and all its constituent barangays; disposal of residual wastes in approved disposal sites; and existence and formulation of no-littering and similar ordinances implemented from city/municipal to barangay levels.
Balanga will be awarded with PhP300,000 cash prize, while Dinalupihan and Hermosa will receive PhP200,000 and PhP100,000 respectively.
The cash prize will be given to winning LGUs provided that they have submitted their respective project proposal on the implementation of the Manila Bay Clean-up, Rehabilitation and Preservation Program where the said prize shall be utilized.
Moreover, Balanga again qualified for the national validation under the city category while Baliwag in Bulacan for the municipal category, both representing the Central Luzon for being the top performers in the region.